


Desperate

by zarabithia



Category: DCU (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-02
Updated: 2006-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-19 21:31:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14881580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: There are better coping mechanisms.  Elektra and Dick possibly aren't aware of this.





	Desperate

Elektra doesn't like weak men. So on the occasion that Dick's nightmare wakes her from her sleep, it takes her a moment of observing his sweat drenched body tossing restlessly in their bed before she considers waking him. She knows well that pulling him from the all too real dreamland he inhabits will result in her lover's arms clinging to her with a neediness that she has found distasteful in all men but one.

It is the sound of her name on _Matt's_ lips echoing so loudly in the back of her mind as Dick cries out in his sleep - for the lover that haunts his dreams as frequently as Matt Murdock haunts hers - that finally convinces her to shake the man at her side until the vivid torture in his mind is left behind in favor of a duller form of loss. He comes out of his dreams swinging with blows that are easily deflected, and for which she would slit his throat if she thought for one moment she was his intended target. But she knows exactly which target he seeks, for it is the same one that took away both their loves. 

When he comes fully awake, his well-trained arms slide around her waist, seeking comfort in a way which is entirely too shaky. . . tender . . . fragile. . . _killable_. Providing comfort is not something Elektra has ever been good at, and she resents the man in her arms for asking it of her. Still, the darkness of the room is not enough to hide the signs of tears streaking down his face, and Elektra pulls Dick close, pressing his face close to her skin, in hopes that the act will muffle the sounds of his loss.

Her efforts are worthless. "I tried to save him," he mutters into her skin, and in her mind, she sees Matt's body fall to ground. 

"I'm sure you did," she says, not as convincingly as perhaps Dick needs it to be, because though she has never asked, she can't help but wonder if Nightwing was forced to stand by as uselessly as she had been as Bullseye took _his_ lover's life. She wonders if Arsenal stubbornly clung to life for as long as Matt had, and whether Nightwing had been foolish enough to stay by his side instead of going after the villain.

She wonders if _Nightwing's_ vigil allowed Bullseye to kill more innocent people, as _hers_ had.

They aren't questions that will be asked this night, or likely, any night in the near future. Eventually - though much too late for Elektra's taste - Dick grows tired of being weak, and dries his own tears. Pulling away from her, he rests his head on his pillow long enough to apologize for his emotional lapse. 

Elektra suggests he make it up to her by sparring. He agrees.

She needs the sparring, as a sedentary punching bag is not strong enough of a target to withstand the torrent that Dick's breakdown unleashed. It is also helpful in reminding her _why_ she stays with this man. The sparring stirs instincts brought by a lifetime of training and the fight that ensues remind her that Nightwing is far removed from being weak. 

Elektra also does not hesitate to concede that the grace and agility with which he moves also play a role in her association with him. Both traits are qualities he shares with Matt, and she has never been dishonest enough with herself to believe that it was anything other than his similarity with the one she lost that drew her to Nightwing in the first place. In Dick she sees all of Matt's goodness, caring, devotion, and sympathy for others and in Nightwing she sees Daredevil's ferocity, strength, determination, and desire to help others. The fact that both choose to do so by sailing from the rooftops only strengthens the connection in Elektra's mind, and her desire for this man.

It is, perhaps, pathetic. 

She has never asked, and probably never will, why Dick was attracted to her. His reason cannot be the same, for though she knows little about Arsenal, she knows enough to know they shared precious little in common. Dick's dead lover was one of the boyscouts, cut from the same mold as Nightwing. That is something Elektra has never been, will never be, and has no interest in seeking out. 

It is possible that he clings to her solely because of the similar nature of their losses. Perhaps he seeks solace in her company because she is the only one who can ever understand the magnitude of his anguish. If that is true, it makes him as desperate as she is pathetic.  
  
It is fortunate for them both that she does not care.  



End file.
